It seems like ancient history, but it actually wasn’t that long ago when – during the first Trump administration – large protests featured signs that read “no kids in cages” and “no body is illegal.” It is hard to remember that less than a decade ago, Democrats running in their party’s presidential primary were competing over who was more pro-immigrant.
Times have changed. President Trump has begun his effort to carry out the largest mass deportation of immigrants in U.S. history. Families and whole communities are stricken with fear.
Meanwhile, the calls to “close the border” or at the very least “tighten” it are coming from all sides of the political playing field. But is there another way forward? What if for our economy and our country to thrive we need open borders, not hyper-militarized ones?
Journalist and author John Washington makes exactly this argument in his recent book, “The Case for Open Borders.” In an interview that took place before Trump took office, we speak with John about why he believes open borders would strengthen our country and better align the United States with its stated ideals of liberty and freedom. Much of what John argues for goes beyond the NYCLU’s policy prevue and we’re not asking everyone to agree with everything he says. But his perspective offers a stark contrast to the vast majority of what we hear about immigration every day, and we think it’s a valuable viewpoint to hear.
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"The Case for Open Borders" by John Washington: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2199-the-case-for-open-borders
Listen to our previous episode with NYC Comptroller Brad Lander on new migrants: https://www.nyclu.org/podcast/why-new-migrants-are-good-for-nyc-with-comptroller-brad-lander
Take action: tell lawmakers to protect immigrant New Yorkers from mass deportation: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/protect-immigrant-new-yorkers-trumps-mass-deportation
For more on everything we discuss in this episode, visit www.nyclu.org/
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